By Orli Strickman, Associate Editor for Campus Life
In recent years, the National Football League has started playing more games abroad, in places like Ireland, Spain and Brazil. But never in Portugal, where this past May, Wheaton College made history as the first college football team to play there.
Junior business economics major Dawson McLaughlin said the trip was first mentioned in fall 2024, when the football coaches mentioned a spring game, in addition to their typical mission trip, as a possibility. The NCAA allows teams to play internationally about once every three years.
“Wheaton has never played an international game before,” said McLaughlin.
Senior business major Grady Gann said the team started practicing for the game at the end of spring ball. Though there is a limit on how many spring practices a team can have, Wheaton had 14 approved extra practices.
On the way to Portugal, the team occupied roughly half the plane, McLaughlin said. There was limited space while traveling, so players packed their gear into shared bags, with two or three teammates sharing a bag. With a team of 70 or 80 players all traveling together, going through customs took a lot of time, and there was an issue with checking their bags.
Despite the long flight and challenges of traveling in such a large group, the team landed in Portugal two days before the game. They played on a soccer field, which is painted differently from an American football field, and had a couple of walkthrough practices in the days leading up to the game.
Wheaton played against the Portugal Select Team, a football team made up of men from a wide age range, on May 17. Sam McFadden, a junior business economics major, said the team was also comprised of international athletes.
“It was interesting that a lot of them weren’t from Portugal, and really cool to hear their stories. Some of them left home to come play football there,” he said.
After the game, which Wheaton won 54-0, the football team had a grill-out with their opponents. “They were super appreciative of us being there,” said Gann. “We did some gear exchange, so we gave them some Wheaton football stuff. Some of them wanted to try and trade our game jerseys and we were like, we can’t trade our game jerseys.”
McLaughlin found it very valuable to have played against a non-Christian team.
“It was a great opportunity to showcase our brand, which is Christ-centered. It was important for us to go do something for the first time and get some recognition for that in order to be like, we’re here to put Christ first,” he said.
Gann agreed, noting that Wheaton prayed over the Portugal Select Team after the game. “A lot of them didn’t speak English, but it was cool to be able to say that not only did we play a football game, but we also prayed after.”
McFadden said it was energizing to be the first college football team to play in Portugal. “It’s really cool to be a part of something that’s brand new,” he said. “For me, it didn’t entirely matter if we won by a lot or if we lost. It was just a really cool experience to be a part of.”
He was also struck by how warm the other team was, despite their loss. “One of the reasons I actually play this game is to glorify God and to have fun. Playing overseas, and hopefully for the other guys, really helped me just reposition it,” he said.
For the rest of their time in Portugal, the team did service projects, including helping build a running track in a community where parents had to work multiple jobs for their kids to be able to play sports. “Before we were even done digging up the track, the kids were coming out of nowhere and already running on it and playing on it,” McLaughlin said. “It was pretty cool to see the difference in the community just with just that little piece that we had finished so far.”
McLaughlin hopes Wheaton can continue playing games abroad in the future, especially as American football gains popularity overseas. “It would be so cool for Wheaton to go back overseas. Three years from now a lot of the players will be gone.”
McFadden agreed, noting the experience was life-changing. “Just getting to hang out with your friends, your teammates, but also learn from other people overseas and how they go about playing football and how they go about their daily lives too, was super impactful,” he said.
